Swansea City remain top of the table after a convincing win over ten-man Southend United.Warren Feeney set them on their way in the 18th minute and, after the Shrimpers had Nicky Bailey, dismissed they completed a comfortable victory with second-half goals from Angel Rangel (57) and Thomas Butler (82).
Swansea had Feeney upfront for the injured Jason Scotland, while Gary Monk and Marcus Painter regained their places following the midweek cup win over Horsham.
It was Andy Robinson who brought the first save from Steven Collis in the Southend goal after just six minutes most of which had been spent deep in their half.
The Swans went ahead when the ball was worked down the right by Paul Anderson who slipped a pass to Rangel.
When the Spaniard's cross came over the on-loan striker headed into the corner of the net despite the valiant efforts of a Southend defender to keep it out.
An injury to Feeney on the half hour led to him being stretchered off with his leg in a splint and he was replaced by Guillem Bauza.
Southend's Bailey was yellow carded in the 33rd minute, one minute later he brought down Darren Pratley and referee Richard Beeby gave him a second yellow followed by a red, leaving the visitors down to ten men.
Ten minutes into the second half Ferrie Bodde broke clear into the Southend danger area but his shot was blocked and the ball hacked clear.
In the 57th minute a mistake by Franck Moussa gifted the ball to Rangel and the full-back lashed his shot into the net to give the Swans the breathing space they needed.
Five minutes later Robinson was brought down in the area by the unfortunate Moussa, but Steve Collis dived to his right to superbly push away Robinson's spot-kick.
It was all Swansea and Dorus de Vries in the home goal was a spectator as Southend's defenders were kept under continual pressure.
Substitute Butler completed the scoring in the 82nd minute with a close-range header following good play by Andrea Orlandi.